…Shares In The Loot Of 6.7 Billion Old Cedis
…Aids Nana Bosompem To Defraud State
….Throws Out Kids From School Building

By Nana Akua Tweneboah-Koduah

Credible information that is likely to shake the NPP Presidential Candidate, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo and his supporters all the way to Election Day and beyond, has it that Nana Akufo-Addo compromised his position as Attorney General and Minister of Justice in the Kufour’s government when he brazenly helped an ex-convict to defraud the state to the tune of 6.7 billion old cedis on judgement debt.

Akufo-Addo also used his influence by flexing the muscle of a judge to return to the ex-convict, Nana Richmond Bosompem, his three houses that were confiscated by the government during the Acheampong regime. And for that role played by Nana Akufo-Addo, the ex-convict paid him half of the 6.7 billion old cedis which the government awarded to him in 2002.

The ex-convict, Nana Bosompem, was a well-known lotto agent in the Eastern Region, notably Akyem Old Tafo during the 1960s and 70s. He used fraudulent and calculated means to win huge sums of lotto during the Acheampong Regime. At the time Bosompem’s company was called Asoroboa Monkey Lotto Agency.

In case you missed it, the NPP Presidential Candidate, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, has been lying big time to Ghanaians that he had never been corrupt, he will never be corrupt and will never allow anybody to corrupt him. Akufo-Addo even repeated this statement during the 2nd and final presidential debate on Wednesday when Mr. Hassan Ayariga knocked him cold and constantly put his credibility on a number of issues in doubt.

But in this world if you lift your hands up and boldly make a pitch about your integrity, honesty, truthfulness and forthrightness among others you open yourself up to a can of worms and totally become fair game.

Mr. Wahab Amadu, a security assistant of the Cocoa Research Institute at Tafo and an NPP card-bearing member, who released the bombshell, disclosed that when the huge lotto wins by Bosompem became rampant, it got the attention of the government of the late General Kutu Acheampong, which tasked the national security to investigate the issue.

“Prior to the investigations, the government had paid previous huge lottery wins to Bosompem and these huge payments did not go down well with the Acheampong government hence the investigations”, Mr. Amadu who is one of the notably boys of Akufo-Addo added. Mr. Wahab Amadu was one of the NPP guys who beat up Owuraku Amofa during the 1996 elections and was subsequently arrested.

According to Mr. Wahab Amadu, who was a friend of Bosompem, during the investigations by the national security it was established that Bosompem delayed in sending the lotto duplicate coupons to the Police Station as required before the numbers were drawn every Saturday afternoon. “Bosompem was able to stake the lotto with huge sums of monies after the numbers had been drawn by the National Lotteries before sending the duplicate coupons to the Police Station”, Mr. Amadu further explained.

Mr. Wahab Amadu stated that the investigators uncovered that all the previous lotto wins by Bosompem were fraudulent; therefore, he was processed for court. He pleaded guilty and asked for clemency. The judge therefore fined him 3.8 billion old cedis and also sentenced him to 30 years imprisonment with hard labour at the Nsawam Prisons. According to Wahab, the state also confiscated three buildings belonging to Bosompem, one in Accra and two at Kukurantumi. The two buildings at Kukurantumi also have a big parcel of land attached to it. The Nima Police Station land which at the time belonged to Bosompem was also possessed by the government.

The two seized buildings at Kukurantumi were later given to the Ghana Education Service by the Acheampong government. The storey building was used as a teacher’s bungalow whilst the other building was turned into Ofori Panin Primary School.

Bosompem was given a reprieve during the Rawlings regime in the early 1990s. After his release from jail Bosompem returned to Akyem Old Tafo and became a staunch member of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) when the ban on party politics was lifted in 1992. Wahab stated that he and Bosompem were known in the area for their campaign activities that helped the NPP in various ways. “I can say on authority that I am one of the boys of Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo. Everybody in the Tafo area knew me very well for all what I did for the NPP”, Wahab declared.

“When the NPP came to power, my friend Bosompem came to my house on July 17, 2001 and asked me to take him to see Nana Akufo-Addo who was then the Attorney General and Minister of Justice to see if he can help him to reclaim his three confiscated houses. I took him to see Nana Akufo-Addo in his house at East Legon where in my presence Bosompem told him that the Acheampong government had confiscated his three houses and also taken his money running into 3.8 billion old cedis. He, therefore, pleaded with Akufo-Addo to help him”, Wahab explained.

“Akufo-Addo gave us a letter to go to his law chambers at Adabraka where we met with three lawyers at the chambers who spoke with us and took down statements from Bosompem. We were told by the lawyers that they were going to talk to Akufo-Addo on how to proceed with the case and also how to sue the government to retrieve Bosompem’s money and properties”, Wahab continued.

“Later the case was sent to court and in 2002, Nana Akufo-Addo got the judge to award Bosompem an amount of 6.7 billion old cedis as judgment debt whilst his three confiscated houses were also returned to him”, Wahab stated. “I am not lying, it was Bosompem who told me long before the case was settled that Nana Akufo-Addo had told him that he had already instructed the judge on the case on what to do”, Wahab added.

Mr. Wahab Amadu stated that prior to the award of the judgement debt he and Bosompem were in a meeting with Akufo-Addo when Bosompem promised to offer Akufo-Addo half of the judgement debt if he wins the case. “Therefore, when Bosompem won the case, Akufo-Addo asked him to open a bank account and furnish him with the account number. Eventually Bosompem opened the account with the Ghana Commercial Bank at New Tafo and furnished Akufo-Addo with the account number”, Wahab added.

According to Wahab, six months after the court judgment Bosompem got half of the 6.7 million old cedis lodged into his bank account with Akufo-Addo keeping the other half. “But Bosompem hit a snag when he tried to retrieve his storey building at Kukurantumi which at the time had been turned into Ofori Panin Primary School”, Wahab explained.

Mr. Amadu said Bosompem returned to Accra and got a quit order notice initiated by Akufo-Addo before the kids were thrown out of the building which is opposite the Ofori Panin Senior High School at Kukurantumi. The situation of the school kids became so pathetic and chaotic that the Ofori Panin Senior High School authorities were forced to adopt make shift structures for the kids at their compound in order not to disrupt their studies and education.

It was later that the USAID and the PTA helped in putting up a six-classroom block to house the primary school kids.

This is the mark of Akufo-Addo who today is running for president and stated at the debate that, “Famous dubious judgement debts have been paid under this government. There appears to be an official collusion to take monies out of public purse and pay it to people who do not deserve it. That is the fraud we are talking about and not the ordinary payment of judgement debts”.

Again, this is another side of Akufo-Addo who talks so passionately about his so-called free Senior High School (SHS) education which Hassan Ayariga pointed out that, “If you talk about the free SHS and you know that it is not possible, it is corruption.” This is the man who dubiously used state apparatus to give back confiscated houses to a convicted fraudster, one of which was at that time being used as a primary school at Kukurantumi. And today, Akufo-Addo has the guts to talk about free education. If primary school kids have no place to start school, how can they get to senior high school?

We have documents related to this case and will publish it to help voters to draw their own conclusions. This year’s presidential election bothers a lot on credibility; therefore, Ghanaians must know the integrity of the people they are voting for. For your information the storey building which was returned to Bosompem who unfortunately died last year at the age of 64 is numbered as KE 6B at Kukurantumi and painted light yellow. The other house is also painted green and both are opposite the Ofori Panin Senior High School.

nakuakoduah@yahoo.com